Digital sovereignty for middle powers II: Managing vulnerability and building leverage

Digital sovereignty for middle powers II: Managing vulnerability and building leverage

This Ditchley conference, the second in a series on digital sovereignty for middle powers, considered how such states can operate in a digital age they did not design and cannot realistically rebuild from scratch. As digital sovereignty becomes more central to economic performance, state capacity, and security, dependencies once seen as efficient features of globalisation are increasingly exposing strategic vulnerabilities. Western supply chains are already saturated with Chinese technology, while AI is emerging as an automated discoverer of cyber security vulnerabilities, often favouring attackers. At the same time, most middle powers cannot meaningfully disentangle from US cloud and AI providers, despite concerns about US legal reach, concentrated corporate power, and political volatility. The first discussion, held in March, examined competing ideas of digital sovereignty and translated them into the practical challenge of retaining agency as strategic competition intensifies. This conference went further by examining vulnerabilities across the stack, testing what hybrid arrangements with hyperscalers can deliver as AI systems become more agentic and integrated, and considering where middle powers can build leverage to strengthen their voice as technology and competition evolve.